I am constantly amazed at the conditional comparison of products as simple as cables. A cable has simple enough job and that is to carry data from one end to another with the least amount of distortion and resistance.
On nearly a daily basis I keep switching between speaker cables and ICs, and this is done on reasonable systems such as Primare, Creek, Dynaudio, Martin Logan, etc. As I said before in another thread, you do have to use a set of systems as reference, change just one part, and 'hear' what difference it makes. If what you hear sounds better with the change, it is only natural that you judge that product to be better. Yes, the defeated product may sound better on a specific system, but in that case, I would recommend the manufacturer clearly state the conditions under which it must be used.
In speaker cables and ICs we may have to concede that brand name and price may not have too much value. I have yet to discern more that 3 or 4% of 'perceivable' difference between a cable that costs 90 Rupees a meter and one that sells in five or six figures. And, surprisingly, in many cases I have heard the cheaper cables beat the expensive ones by a few yards. Ultimately we have to ask ourselves, is it worth the difference? Unfortunately for me, whenever I have challenged some people to explain to me what difference they hear, the stock answer is that it is a personal opinion. Can you not explain it? I certainly can and to back up what I say, I can always play back the same number and pinpoint exactly where I hear the difference. And mind you, I do this not using what I consider vague terms such as lushness, body, etc. It is always something as simple as hearing an instrument with more clarity, hearing an instrument that was not there at all, or a tone in the voice that is clearly discernible. In my mind if I cannot hear these easily explainable differences, the two products are broadly on par with each other.
In something as simple as the movement of electricity across a cable, personal opinions, in my opinion, should not have much value. After all we can measure the transmission can we not? Over this simple provable concept, if you think you can hear something a few others cannot, what is there to say? Maybe I am going deaf !!
And to Arj and all members, this post of mine was more loud thinking than anything else. It is more a reassurance from me to myself that my thought processes are correct. I have quoted Arj's post as it just acted as a trigger.
Cheers
. Anyway for now, the source is my HTPC (Xonar D2X) Digital out -> Behringer DEQ2496 Analog out -> Lyrita 2A3C SET -> Lyrita Harmony One speakers.
